Digital video capturing means are well-known in the consumer mass market and available for relatively low prices. However, amateur videos often suffer from misalignments of consecutive frames caused by hand-shaking (trembling). Thus, a variety of stabilization techniques based on motion estimation is known in the art (see, for example, A. Engelsberg, G. Schmidt, “A comparative review of digital image stabilizing algorithms for mobile video communications”, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 45, No. 3, August 1999; J. K. Paik, Y. C. Park, D. W. Kim, “An adaptive motion decision system for digital image stabilizer based on edge pattern matching”, IEEE ICCE Consumer Electronics, Digest of Technical Papers, June1992 which are incorporated herein by reference).
In particular, motion estimation based on horizontal and vertical characteristic curves has been implemented (see, for example, M. Kim, E. Kim, D. Shim, S. Jang, G. Kim, and W. Kim, “An Efficient Global Motion Characterization Method for Image Processing Applications,” IEEE Trans. On Consumer Electronics, pages 1010-1018, November 1997; Y. Koo and W. Kim, “An Image Resolution Enhancing Technique Using Adaptive Sub-Pixel Interpolation For Digital Still Camera System”, IEEE Transactions On Consumer Electronics, Vol. 45, No. 1., February 2005 which are incorporated herein by reference). However, these kinds of stabilization methods are not sufficiently reliable in the cases of illumination changes, motion blur, new details entering into the scene or moving objects in the scene. These problems have partially been addressed in US 2010/124379 A1 and EP 2 204 982 A1 (which are incorporated herein by reference) wherein an algorithm was provided that particularly allows for the reduction of motion blur and distraction by moving objects. However, the proposed algorithm may be improved with respect to the overall stabilization preciseness and handling of regular patterns. Therefore, despite the recent technology advancements there is still a need for an improved video stabilization method taking into account the restricted computational resources available in video capturing mass products.